Sleep Apnea Treatment Can Reduce Truckers’ Risk of Accidents

As the conflict over new sleep apnea regulations for truckers in the US continues, a new Italian study may add relevant information. This study shows that sleep apnea treatment can dramatically reduce the risk that truckers with sleep apnea will be involved in accidents.

Assessing Dangerous-Goods Drivers for Sleep Apnea

For this study, researchers looked at a special category of truck drivers, known as truck drivers of dangerous goods (TDDGs), who have additional regulations about their health and driving status. These drivers are entrusted with driving dangerous cargoes like gasoline, diesel, propane, and methane.

Interestingly, none of the 283 male study participants, reported sleep apnea symptoms. But after looking at questionnaire responses for the drivers, it was suspected that 139 of them might have sleep apnea. Sleep tests confirmed that 100 of these drivers (35.7%) had sleep apnea. In addition, a random sample of the other drivers had sleep tests, but none of them had sleep apnea.

However, only 24 of the drivers, those with severe sleep apnea, were assigned to sleep apnea treatment (CPAP).

These 24 drivers had their treatment monitored for two years. All 24 of them managed to keep to a minimum treatment protocol of four hours a night, five nights a week for the study period.

When researchers reviewed crash reports for these drivers at the end of the two years, they found that their crash risk had fallen to that of normal drivers without sleep apnea.

Sleep Apnea Screening and Treatment for Safety

This study provides yet more evidence that there are likely many benefits in terms of safety to be gained from requiring truck drivers to be screened for sleep apnea and receive treatment when appropriate. Although these rules have not been finalized, it seems that we are moving in a positive direction, and that truckers are accepting the benefit of screening and treatment.